Splints of many types are known in the medical community and are used to stabilize and support various body parts. Some splints are used to immobilize broken bones while others are used to support musculature and minimize repetitive strain injuries.
Pregnant women may find that they benefit from placing a splint around their abdomen as the pregnancy progresses. Unsupported, the weight of the abdomen of a pregnant woman may cause back pain as the back supports the additional weight of the growing abdomen. Further, the additional weight of the abdomen may cause the woman to feel unsupported and uncomfortable as she performs moderate or strenuous exercise. If a woman places a splint around her abdomen, she may find that the support reduces back pain and increases her level of comfort as she continues an exercise regimen.
An additional side effect that may occur during pregnancy is diastasis recti, the separation of the rectus abdominis muscle, or the “six pack” muscle of a woman's abdomen. Diastasis recti occurs when the size of the growing fetus stretches both the linea alba, the connecting tissue running longitudinally through the rectus abdominis, and the rectus abdominis muscle. The stretching and subsequent thinning of the linea alba and rectus abdominis causes the halves of the rectus abdominis muscle to linearly stretch outwards from each other, causing what appears to be a small separation in the rectus abdiminis at the midline of the body. Some degree of abdominal separation during pregnancy is typical, and the degree of separation varies among different women. Although some women spontaneously heal the diastasis recti within six to eight weeks after giving birth, not all women heal spontaneously. To facilitate the healing process, women who do not heal the diastasis recti spontaneously may benefit from wearing a splint and completing abdominal strengthening exercises post-partum. An abdominal splinting device that provides manual traction, temporarily closing the separation of the rectus abdominus halves, can facilitate healing of the diastasis. Further, a splint which provides even, simultaneous traction along both sides of the diastasis is particularly helpful as it more closely mimics the natural alignment of the musculature and properly centers the halves along the woman's midline.
Previous abdominal support systems have been designed to either support the abdomen of a pregnant woman or to provide splinting of the abdomen of postnatal women. This invention provides a splint which may be worn during pregnancy to support, splint, and stabilize the abdomen, and which may also be may be worn by postnatal women to splint the rectus abdominis muscle for treatment of a diastasis recti.